Harlekin was composed for the clarinetist Suzanne Stephens to dance to her own playing. It was begun at Easter 1975 in Morocco, and completed on Christmas Eve of the same year on Big Corn Island off the coast of Nicaragua. In an interview from October 1984, Stockhausen recalled the circumstances: "I can see it in front of me. A rocky shore with a small restaurant on it, and the timber house where I wrote most of HARLEKIN. I can see the oil that was poured on the floor to fight those horrid cockroaches". The work was premiered on 7 March 1976 in the Große Sendesaal of the WDR in Cologne by Suzanne Stephens. Although intended primarily for a dancing clarinetist, it can also be performed as "pure" music, in which case the notated dance rhythms are to be played on tabla, a Kandy drum, or similar drum. It may also be performed by a clarinetist at the side of the stage on which a dancer performs the choreography. There is an arrangement for flute, as well.
Analysis
Harlekin is composed using formula technique and falls into seven sections, which are played without a break:
Der Traumbote
Der spielerische Konstrukteur
Der verliebter Lyriker
Der pedantische Lehrer
Der spitzbübische Joker
Der leidenschaftliche Tänzer
Der exaltierte Kreiselgeist
Part 6 is subdivided into two parts, titled "Dialog mit einem Fuss" and "Harlekins Tanz". The whole work is composed as a single large wave. The work is based on a melodic formula first exposed in its full form in section 3, "Der verliebter Lyrikyer". Up to this point, the melody is gradually evolved, and from here onward it is composed out in a variety of ways. The cyclic compositional processes are associated with rotating movements by the performer, which recall the rotating movements of electronic sounds inKontakte, and the improvised motions produced by use of the "sound mill" in the spherical auditorium of the German Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka.
''Der kleine Harlekin''
"Harlequin's Dance", the second subsection of part 6, became an independent piece with the title Der kleine Harlekin, and was given the work-number 42½. This piece was premiered by Suzanne Stephens on 3 August 1977 at the Centre Sirius in Aix-en-Provence. Like the parent composition, Der kleine Harlekin is meant for a dancing clarinetist, but can be performed as a duo by a clarinetist and a dancer, or a clarinetist and a drummer. It also has been arranged for flute.
Discography
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Harlekin; Der kleine Harlekin. Suzanne Stephens. LP recording. DG 2531 006. : Deutsche Grammophon, 1978. Reissued on CD, Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 25. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1992.
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Harlekin. Michele Marelli. Stradivarius Times Future. CD recording. Stradivarius STR 33864. : Stradivarius, 2010.
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Amour, Der kleine Harlekin, Wochenkreis. Michele Marelli ; Antonio Pérez Abellán. Recorded in Cuneo, Italy, and Alicante, Spain, in March 2013. CD recording. Wergo WER 6785 2. Mainz: Wergo, 2013.
Filmography
Virtuoso: Müller—Paganini—Rossini—Stockhausen—Stravinsky. Matthias Müller ; Ensemble Zero, David Philip Hefti. 1 hybrid SACD + 2 DVDs, with video performances of Müller: Six Études de Concert and Stockhausen: Der kleine Harlekin. NEOS 20904. : NEOS Music GmbH, 2009.
